In Bristol, Somalia sex grooming gangs raped girls as young as 13 and forced them into prostitution. Some of the girl were in state custody while the gang rapes were going on.

Britain has already been rocked by revelations of large scale child rape perpetrated by Pakistani immigrants. Left has blamed “Pakistani culture” and says Islam is not to blame. However, this case shows that other Muslim immigrant groups are doing the same thing.

13 Somali men have been convicted of raping children in Bristol. There are 49 other suspects.

Thirteen men, all of Somali origin, have been convicted of the systematic sexual abuse of vulnerable girls as young as 13 in Bristol and officers are investigating claims against 49 other suspects.

The victims, some of whom were in local authority care, were groomed and passed around by their abusers – often for money – and assaulted in homes, parks and a hotel.

One of the girls was raped at age 13 on the same night by three different men, including a stranger, and thought her life would be in danger if she went to the police.

Another girl was sexually exploited after a local authority outside Bristol set her up alone in a flat at the age of 16 in a deprived inner-city neighbourhood although she had been described as having the emotional development of a three-year-old.

Within hours of arriving, she was spotted by drug dealers who set up a base in her new home and forced her to work as a prostitute. The abuse continued for months even after she told care workers about what was happening; the girl’s 14-year-old sister was subsequently raped during a visit.

A serious case review will look at the case and examine whether more should have been done to protect the girls. Ten girls came forward to make allegations about the 13 men but Avon and Somerset police said they were actively pursuing nine other investigations across the force area, involving suspects from various communities and ethnic backgrounds. The Guardian has learned that 49 suspects and 48 victims are involved in these investigations.

Detectives expressed concerns that hotels were being used for exploitative sex parties and the police have worked with the Premier Inn chain because one of the most savage attacks took place at one of its hotels.

Avon and Somerset police have said the case has similarities with large-scale child exploitation cases in places such as Oxford and Rochdale, where men of Asian heritage have been found guilty of abuse. But this the first time members of the Somali community have been found guilty of such crimes.